Excel is a Microsoft Office software program that provides worksheets and workbooks. Worksheets are documents comprised of rows, columns, and cells. In each cell the user can enter a number, date, text, math formula, or Excel function. Worksheets can also display selected data in one of a variety of chart types.

A workbook is just a collection of worksheets. When the Excel program is first opened, the user is presented with a workbook that contains three empty worksheets, also called spreadsheets. The first empty worksheet is displayed, and in the bottom left corner of Excel are three tabs – one for each worksheet – with the names Sheet1, Sheet2, and Sheet3 as shown in the screenshot below. Arrows also display that allow the user to scroll right and left to locate worksheet tabs when a workbook has a large number of worksheets.

How to View a Worksheet?

To view a worksheet, click on its tab. If the workbook window is not wide enough to display all of the tabs because of long worksheet names and/or many worksheet tabs, use the arrows to the left of the tabs to navigate left or right, or right-click on any of the arrows and select the desired worksheet from the list that displays.

How to Rename a Worksheet?

To rename a spreadsheet, right-click on the spreadsheet tab, select Rename from the context menu, and type a new name. Or, double-click on the worksheet tab and type a new name.

How to Insert a Worksheet?

The fastest way to insert a worksheet in a workbook is to simply click on the small tab to the right of the last worksheet tab as shown in the image below. Then you can move the worksheet to a different position if desired.

Alternatively, you can insert a new worksheet to the left of an existing worksheet by right-clicking on the tab of the worksheet that is immediately to the right of where you want the new worksheet to be located and select Insert from the Insert window. Excel always inserts a spreadsheet to the left of the selected worksheet.

How to Delete a Worksheet?

To delete a worksheet, right-click on the worksheet tab and select Delete from the context menu.

Moving Worksheets (Spreadsheets)

Sometimes we need our worksheets need to be in a different order or even in a different workbook.

How to Move a Worksheet in the Same Workbook?

There are two ways to move a worksheet in the same workbook. The easy way is to click and hold the left mouse button on a worksheet’s tab and slide the tab to its desired position. Watch the little black arrow that appears just above. When it is to the right of left of the adjacent worksheet, release the mouse and the worksheet will be moved.

If you dislike dragging with the mouse, here is another method. Right-click on the tab of the source worksheet and click “Move or Copy…” In the Move or Copy window, click the name of the worksheet that you want the sheet to be inserted before, and click OK.

How to Move a Worksheet to a NEW Workbook?

To move a spreadsheet to a new workbook, right-click on the tab of the source spreadsheet and click “Move or Copy.” In the Move or Copy window, click the drop-down arrow under “To Book:” and click (new book). Excel removes the worksheet from the existing workbook and opens a new workbook containing the moved worksheet. Save the workbook.

How to Move a Worksheet to a Different Workbook?

Open both the source workbook and the target workbook. Right-click on the tab of the source worksheet (the one to be moved) and click “Move or Copy…” Then at the top under “To book,” click the small down arrow to open up the drop-down menu and click on the name of the target workbook (where the worksheet is to be moved to). Verify that the worksheet was successfully moved to the other workbook and save the workbook.

Copying Worksheets (Spreadsheets)

Rather than start from scratch, it is often easier to copy, and then modify, an existing worksheet – especially if you’re going to be using a lot of the same formatting, formulas, and so on.

How to Copy a Worksheet in the Same Workbook?

To copy a worksheet in the same workbook, right-click on the tab of the source worksheet and click “Move or Copy…” In the Move or Copy window, check the “create a copy” box, click the name of the worksheet that you want the sheet to be inserted before, and click OK.

How to Copy a Worksheet to a NEW Workbook?

To copy a worksheet into a new workbook, right-click on the tab of the source worksheet and click “Move or Copy…” In the Move or Copy window, click the drop-down arrow under “To Book:” and click (new book). Excel opens a new workbook containing the copied spreadsheet. Save the new workbook.

How to Copy a Worksheet to Different Workbook?

The best way to copy a worksheet to another workbook is as follows: Open both the source workbook and the target workbook. Right-click on the tab of the source worksheet (the one to be copied) and click “Move or Copy…” On the Move or Copy window, CHECK the box at the bottom titled “Create a copy.” Then at the top under “To book,” click the small down arrow to open up the drop-down menu and click on the name of the target workbook (the other workbook). Verify that the worksheet was successfully copied to the other workbook and save the workbook.

As a rather messy alternative, you can copy and paste the contents as follows. In the source worksheet, right-click in the top left corner cell to select all the workbooks cells and select Copy.

Then, open the other Excel workbook, find an empty worksheet, right-click in the top left corner cell to select all cells, and click Paste. Save the workbook.

Return to the first (source) worksheet and press the ESC key to remove the animated border and then click in an empty cell to deselect all of the cells.